ED Racer ‘times two’

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Ian,

 

I agree, I use both types of ink in my printers depending on the application,  especially the special inks produced by Epson which according to their tests will last up to 200 years if protected from light or 100 years in a normally lit environment.  How they have tested that though I’m not so sure. However these long life pigment based inks are significantly more expensive than the normal dye based inks (the ones which rapidly fade in light) I also know that a few drops of ink go a long way as I regularly refill cartridges and occasionally my nitrile gloves develop a leak. 

 

It is still very difficult to mix accurate colours.  Taking into account the relative intensity of dye or pigment, I would have thought it would take quite a lot of ink to experiment enough to obtain an accurate colour intense enough to colour the anodised components  The ink would need to be used neat , not diluted. 

 

On the other hand, fabric dyes are almost perfect for colouring anodised components. or so I am informed by those who use them and do a lot of this work at a hobby level.  They are available in a very wide range of hues and shades (more than actual anodising dyes) and are cheap, around £1.50 for a pack that will colour hundreds of square inches of anodised material. As well as being relatively permanent, very widely available, will keep for a long time when diluted and are very safe.  I don’t see any problem with using them.

 

Let me know if you have success with any experiments you carry out with inks, it would be interesting to compare the results..

 

Regards

 

Terry

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi,

Thanks as usual for your thoughts

 

Having spent a bit of time viewing what I can find on the subject it appears that green can be a bit difficult to take with some dyes. I have known about Dylon for some time and this was my first intention as it is so readilly available – thanks for your kind offer Terry but I can get it locally – however I have not been able so far to find the Dylon in the ‘little round tins’ but only a limited range of colours in sachets. There is a another Dylon type that is intended to be put into the washing machine but according to one source this was not successful. Another states the the small round tins marked COLD WATER DYE are not successful either but that the tins with just the colour and range number printed on are! I would have thought the dyes are the same just different labelling as they are all ‘cold water dyes’. It does appear though that some colours simply wont ‘take’. 

I could not get green locally so settled for intense violet! (Yea I know, I know!) but have decided not to use it (for the Racers).  The reason I would like to get a good green is that I have the head of a DC Rapier to do too.

 

So far I have found a couple of ‘professional’ dye suppliers one selling a small 20g sample for £6 and another selling the proper anodising dye 500ml for £14 plus several types on ebay. I shall try in town today but if no luck will probaly settle for the ‘sample’.

 

I did consider your thoughts on the printer inks the first time Ian but Terry has summed my thoughts up – the mixing problems and the cost for such relatively small volumes.

 

I have investigated green ink – this evidently works well but unlike years ago when you could purchase inks in largish bottles they are seemingly only available in 30ml or so bottles.

 

Whatever the search goes on – the engine parts near completion so I need to be ready to get on with this asap – Thanks again

 

Regards – Ramon

[ZigFireParticipant @zigfire]

Hello Ramon,

 

Please download the pdf at this link. It includes all the necessary info for dying your aluminium.

This retailer is in Australia, not sure where you are but postage to wherever would not be expensive. These dies are in powder form so no messy liquids for postage. I have used there products and they are very good.

 

 

http://kraftkolour.com.au/Instructions/p13_sectionid/1/p13_fileid/70

 

Cheers 

Michael

 

 

 

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Another to consider Ramon, are there any “Proffesional” Anodisers in your area that could “Donate” a sample of “The right stuff” to have a bash with?

 

  Regards  Ian. 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Ramon,

 

You may have seen this site but the (amateur) guy seems to have been quite successful at anodising at home using simple apparatus and equipment.  He also has advice about the kinds of dye which he has been successful with.  That is if you don’t have a friendly anodiser nearby as Ian suggests.

 

The only difficulty may be the sulphuric acid, depending on where you live, but I get it in the supermarkets in France when I visit my  property there.  They sell it as battery acid , I forget the concentration at the moment  but the required strength is quite easy to calculate.

 

I can’t wait to see your results.

 

Terry

 

 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Oops Sorry Ramon,  

 

I forgot to include the url. It is here:-

 

http://astro.neutral.org/anodise.shtml 

 

Terry

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi again,

 

Had a good look today for dyes. It appears that Dylon have apparently discontinued the range of dyes in those small round tins. The only thing I could find is a new display stand that features 50gm sachets in a limited range of colours (This is what I had found in another store in my home town). They did have a green though and also an older 100gm box of another green so I bought both. It also occured to me as I was coming home that possibly I could make a strong dye using artist quality water colour paint. I assume that is just another form of pigment – very finely ground in a water soluble binder. Anyone any thoughts on that possiblity?

 

I also bought some washing soda crystals for degreasing but having checked the label noticed the first item – “Do not allow to come into contact with aluminium!!??” Any thoughts on that one too? Does this mean the actual crystals or is it to prevent the surface of domestic aluminium objects being affected when washing.

 

I have ‘found’ the bottle of sulphuric stored in a container under the bench. This is labeled diluted 4 to 1 – that was from neat acid probably with tapwater. I was given it so long ago and also have a 25 ltr drum filled with ‘pickling’ strength too but cannot remember what strength I made that – 10 to 1 springs to mind would that be about right? None of this has been used.

There is also a small amount of neat acid so I could start from scratch but with de-ionised water which I still need to get – probably tomorrow.

 

Thoughts from our ‘chemist’ brothers would be most appreciated at this stage.

 

Here is the intended set up so far.

 

 

 

One thing I’m not confident about is the contact between the part and the ally wire. At the moment the wire is bent back on itself o provide a ‘spring’ push fit in the hole. Question is once the process starts will that contact dimish? (Hence the two wires)

 

Ian I do have a ‘professional’ less than two miles away. Before I thought about having a go myself I did contact him but his minimum charge was £35 – one off or the maximum amount on a ‘tree’ – it didn’t matter. Unfortunately I didn’t get the feeling he was particularly ‘interested’

but if I don’t get any success with what I have so far I suppose it would be worth taking the bits along just to see if I ‘caught him on a bad day’!

 

Thanks for all your input everyone – much appreciated as always – thanks for the links too  – it’s amazing what’s out there.

 

Regards for now – Ramon

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Ramon,

 

Just my twopen’orth, Washing soda is slightly caustic, and will etch the surface of aluminium.  The more caustic Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda) will dissolve aluminium quite quickly.  However this slight etching is just what you need before anodising.  Most advice is to use caustic soda for a short wash, but I reckon washing soda is a safer alternative, however when used (in solution) it can produce toxins if in contact with aluminium , so is not a good idea to use with domestic utensils such as cooking pots etc.  (At least that is what I have always been led to believe, I could be way off there!).

 

After the etching process you should ‘desmut’ the component using a nasty mixture of nitric and other acids, however it seems that a good scrub with detergent and then de-ionised water is just as effective at home – that seems much better a choice to me .

 

Your idea of using doubled up aluminium wire is the same as I tried when experimenting with the process some time ago and it appeared to be quite effective, I didn’t notice any diminuition of the contact.

 

By the way caustic soda will also remove previous anodising whether natural or processed if you need to repeat the process.

 

These are mostly my own observations from a limited experiment with the process and from reading up on it.  I hope others will correct any blatant or serious error.  

 

By the way, you could always experiment with some scrap aluminium!

 

Best of luck,

 

Terry

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi Terry,

Thanks, that would seem to explain the concern in not allowing – shall we say for the ‘non anodiser’ – the soda to come into contact with ally.

 

I shall use washing soda then as a ‘final’ degreaser after using a solvent (acetone) first and it’s pleasing to hear that you had no problem with the doubled up wire too – I feel a little more confident in the method. I have several test pieces of ally cut from the same stock as the parts were made from to experiment on before biting the bullet.

 

So far the expenditure has been reasonable. The two big glass jars were a quid each from Tescos, the poly box was three, and the dyes and soda seven. Just some de-ionised to shell out for tomorrow and it should be all systems go.

 

Regards – Ramon

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

By the way Ramon,

 

One of my local independent shops has some old stock Dylon tinlets, I’ll have a look see tomorrow.

 

Fingers crossed

 

Terry

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

p.s.

 

Pity you’re not local, I have about 50 litres of de-ionised H2O in my garage,

 

By the way, just out of interest, my aluminium wire came from the remains of an electric cattle fence from my property (an old farm) in Brittany

 

T

 

Edited By Terryd on 30/04/2010 22:51:02

Edited By Terryd on 30/04/2010 22:54:30

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Just another rambling thought,

 

of course you must take care with acids and alkalis, but beware especially the Hydrogen Dioxide, I believe that it causes more deaths than any other substance worldwide (de-ionised or not)! 

 

T

Edited By Terryd on 30/04/2010 23:00:14

[Frank DolmanParticipant @frankdolman72357]

 

     The warning on the washing soda is to deter repeated cleaning of

   ali saucepans with it.  The effect on a saucepan is, of course, very

   attractive.  Never were pans so clean!  After half a dozen washes, they

   become pitted and a few washes later, holes appear.

 

 

     You are, we hope, only going to etch once.  Your workpieces will not

   be holed, furthermore you are going to wash them carefully afterwards.

   Imagine the effect on a saucepan put away in the cupboard with a bit of

   soda solution left in the bottom.

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Thanks Frank, understood.

 

I have just posted the first results under ‘Anodising’ as I thought it would be better there and leave the machining side here. Not that good so far I’m afraid but I will persevere. In the meantime it’s back on the engine and get those rotors machined.

 

Regards for now – Ramon

[LADmachiningParticipant @ladmachining]

Posted by Terryd on 30/04/2010 22:59:27:

Just another rambling thought,

 

of course you must take care with acids and alkalis, but beware especially the Hydrogen Dioxide, I believe that it causes more deaths than any other substance worldwide (de-ionised or not)! 

 

T

Edited By Terryd on 30/04/2010 23:00:14

 Souldn’t that be dihydrogen monoxide (2 H’s, 1 O)?

 

Last time I looked in my local ‘Hobbycraft’ store, they sold the small aluminium tins of Dylon dye.

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Dear LAD Machining,

 

Of course you’re correct, I hang my head in shame  ,

Dihydrogen Monoxide it is – but it’s still dangerous

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 04/05/2010 21:29:08

[LADmachiningParticipant @ladmachining]

Very!

 

Be careful out there!

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi All

 

Well as you have probably seen elsewhere sometime has been spent on the anodising process but the parts for the engines were steadily worked on and were finished just over a week ago.

 

I turned one rotor from the oil filled nylon which looks like Fairy soap and turns a bit like it too! Actually it wasn’t that bad and proved to be reasonably dimensionally stable after parting off. Biggest problem was having to do several test holes to establish a decent sized hole to fit the rotor pin freely but without wobble. Reaming it proved a non starter as it just closed in after the reamer was with drawn. The other (and a spare ) was machined from Tufnol and was much easier to do.

 

As with any new design there were one or two ‘tweaks’ to get things to fit better – a mm off the first shoulder on the crankshaft to allow the prop driver to go back further and quite a bit off the contra piston length and the cylinder head register to allow the contra piston to rise – still haven’t worked out why this was but the maths obviously went a bit awry in this area it appears!

 

The first full test assembly then with just the anodising to go

 

 

After a strip down and another clean it was time for the anodising and the final assembly

 

I decided not to anodise the prop drivers because of the difference in colour up take as described on the anodising thread. Something I shall be aware of in future.

 

That was it then nothing left to do but to try ’em.

 

The first one tried (steel liner CI piston) fired on the first flick – honestly – but it was only on the exhaust prime! It soon burst into life however and after clearing itself of a bit of fuel settled down to a nice rich run on the 13 x 5 prop revs just over 4000. I have to think of the neighbours so it only ran for about 2/3 mins.

 

 

 

The second (C/I piston and liner) proved a bit more difficult but this was due to the contra piston not being able to back off enough – more fettling required there – and it proved easier to flood the but once going the run was faster – just short of 7000 but despite a rich setting it began to heat a bit so the run was curtailed after opening the needle right out had little effect on reducing the revs compared to the previous one.

 

I should add that three spray bars were made of differing diameters to see what difference they would give. This second engine had the second smaller dia fitted.

 

That’s it, the end of the project and very enjoyable it has been too. The nice thing about these engines is their relatively short build time.

 

I will post a few more shots of the engines on the album section and of course just a reminder that most of the machining pics are on this link.

 

A friend has offered to video them running next week on a decent camera so I’ll post the link. In the meantime I hope it’s been of interest to some, the feedback I have recieved both here and the other relevant threads has been very encouraging – Thank you all indeed.

 

Regards for now – Ramon

Edited By Ramon Wilson on 20/05/2010 23:35:07

Edited By David Clark 1 on 27/05/2010 16:02:07

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Ramon

 

Truly magnificent what a beautiful pair of engines, a project like that I can only dream of. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Best regards

 

Martin

[Bill PudneyParticipant @billpudney37759]

Ramon,

I’m with Martin, absolutely superb.  The Racer was always a handsome engine, in my opinion and your two motors are even better! Thanks

cheers

Bill Pudney

Adelaide, Australia

p.s. What material did you use for the crankshaft??

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

 

Thanks Martin, sharing it has been a pleasure – I can learn as well as others thats the great thing about this forum. You too Bill, yes the Racer was always a favourite – my second engine after an AM10 way back in ’58! It started me on a long love affair with rear intake motors – always had a weakness for those ever since.

 

The crankshaft is a composite – the main part including the two bearing diameters the web and crankpin was made from EN24T and was drilled and reamed right through 6.35mm. It was counterbored at the web end 7mm dia for about 8mm deep and the inner shaft was turned to suit from a 8mm caphead bolt to a good push fit and Loctited in. The whole was then turned between centres and the thread screwcut. The only reason I did this was to conserve the rather limited  supply of EN24 and of course it does mean a lot less roughing to do.  

 

Thanks again – glad you enjoyed it

 

Regards – Ramon

 

PS – I notice the advert overlap has crept back again.

 

Ian(Circlip), is the long link the culprit? I notice your occasional friendly dig at Terryd for those. If so how does one post a short link ie ones like – “see(here)” ? Can you (or anyone else) cast any light on the matter.

Edited By Ramon Wilson on 21/05/2010 22:54:48

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

hI ramon,

 

Thanks for sharing your engines with us.  It’s been an inspiration watching those little lumps of metal from your first postings grow into such lovely things.  Your experiences with anodising have also been interesting, seeing all of those experiments and failures leading to such a success.  let us know how the dyes last or if there is any fading over time, I’d be really interested

 

I don’t mind the occasional dig from Circlip, I enjoy his posts and he’s been really helpful at times. .

 

I’ve now cracked the ‘short’ link process.

 

As I have said, I’m always ready to learn new skills. Nor do I mind taking the rise out of myself. When one has taught for nearly 40 years one learns humility.  Unlike some others around on forums  

 

Here’s a (hopefully) ‘short’ link to the C1 lathe at Arc Eurotrade:

 

C1 Lathe

 

Easy Peasy (cross fingers , I hope it works!!!)

 

Best regards and thanks,

 

Terry

 

 

Edited By Terryd on 22/05/2010 03:34:48

Edited By Terryd on 22/05/2010 03:35:55

[Frank DolmanParticipant @frankdolman72357]

     Ramon, both threads have been exciting and awe inspiring.  Not least

   because of your speed.  Quite delighted at your success.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

  Regards  Ian.

 

  Just cut it down a bit in case I get Conductified

 

Edited By Circlip on 22/05/2010 12:39:48

Edited By Circlip on 22/05/2010 12:40:38

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

 

Ah Terry – so you have but how do you do it? Obviously my plea for help fell on Circlips deaf ears or am I missing something? His cryptic comments are always way beyond my old grey cells comprehension.

 

I have ordered some different colours from the ebay site but will also try a red and blue ink when I can get up to the city as the green was really powerful. Trouble is it’s only 57ml for near £4. It appears inks are no longer available in large sizes except from very specialist – read epensive- suppliers. The colour on the heads was diluted 50/50 so a couple of bottles will make plenty enough for a cylindr head. How long they remain light fast remains to be seen.

 

That’s it for a while – I’m taking some time to revamp the workshop shelving behind lathe and mill. Another thingy in the wood pile is the fact that my wife – shouldn’t  call her SWMBO really as she is always so supportive of my modelling – has just begun to work part time. Hmmm – could be two days less in’t workshop thn!

 

I have my eyes on another engine to scale up though maybe a glow this time, before that sparkie.

 

Thanks for the kind comments and all your friendly input – it’s much valued.

 

Regards – Ramon

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